With the current turmoil in the Middle East, there is a growing interest about Islam—the world’s second largest religion and one of the fastest growing—and its holy book, the Koran (or Qur’an). Now, with this easy-to-follow, plain-English guide, you can explore the history, structure, and basic tenets of Islam’s sacred scripture. The Koran For Dummies is for non-Muslims interested in the Koran as well as Muslims looking to deepen their understanding. Islamic scholar Sohaib Sultan provides a clear road map, revealing: The meaning of Koran and its basic message The Koran’s place in history and in Islamic spiritual life Explanations of its language, structure, and narrative style How to live by the Koran’s teachings The Koran’s role in key global issues, such as Jihad vs. terrorism Different interpretations of the Koran No other book provides such a straightforward look at what the Koran says, how it says it, and how believers live according to its guidance. From how the Koran was received by Mohammed and how it was compiled to how it’s interpreted by Islam’s two main branches, you’ll see how to put the Islamic faith in perspective. Plus, you’ll discover: What the Koran really says about women and civil law How Islam relates to Judaism and Christianity The Koran’s view of God, prophets, mankind, and the self How its teachings are lived and recited every day by devout Muslims Common misconceptions of the Koran How to raise a family the Koranic way Complete with lists of important passages, Koranic terminology, famous quotes, and further reading resources, The Koran For Dummies makes it easy and enjoyable for you to grasp the teachings and significance of Islam's holy book.

Written between the years 1923 and 1938, this collection of 168 essays addresses all the spheres of life, from science and nature to the arts, society and economics, sex and sexuality, the family, women's issues, religion, race, and God.

Two Persian travellers arrive in Paris and report on the European society of the Enlightenment in their letters home. With biting satire they compare East and West, while unsettling news from the harem provides a suspenseful plot of jealousy and passion. This is the first English translation based on the original text.

'The topic is becoming more significant because Islam is the most rapidly growing religious in the world. This book provides a thorough and sophisticate, but at the same time clear-headed and reliable, overview.' --Kevin Lacey

This study concerns the city dweller. Morris finds remarkable similarities with captive zoo animals and looks closely at the aggressive, sexual and parental behaviour of the human species under the stresses and pressures of urban living.

This is the first volume of Goldziher s Muslim Studies, which ranks highly among the classics of the scholarly literature on Islam. Indeed, the two volumes, originally published in German in 1889 1890, can justly be counted among those which laid the foundations of the modern study of Islam as a religion and a civilization. The first study deals with the reaction of Islam to the ideals of Arab tribal society, to the attitudes of early Islam to the various nationalities and more especially the Persians, and culminates in the chapter on the Shu ubiyya movement which represents the reaction of the newly converted peoples, and again more especially of the Persians, to the idea of Arab superiority. The second essay is the famous study on the development of the Hadith, the Traditions ascribed to Muhammed, in which the Hadith is shown to reflect the various trends of early Islam, and in which its collection, and the subsequent literature devoted to it, is described. Goldziher s name is mainly associated with the critical study of the Hadith, of which this essay is the chief monument. The third essay is about the cult of saints, which, though contrary to the spirit and the letter of the earliest Islam, played such an important part in its subsequent development. These essays, with the author s marvelous richness of information, profound historical sense, and sympathetic insight into the motive forces of religion and civilization, are today as fresh as at the time of their original publication and are indispensable for all students of Islam. The editor, S. M. Stern, has brought the annotation up-to-date by completing, whenever necessary, the references, by making relevant additions and by indicating the most important later literature dealing with the subjects treated in the studies."

Argues that a hidden mathematical code embedded in the Old Testament predicts events that took place long after the Bible was written, including the French Revolution, the 1969 moon landing, and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin